Beginning of Essay
was the most important writing material in the ancient world. Our word ""paper"" derives from the word "","" an Egyptian word that originally meant ""that which belongs to the house"" (the bureaucracy of ancient Egypt). is a triangular reed that used to grow ....

Middle of Essay
.... cheaper) materials, like wood and clay (broken pottery sherds with writing are called ostraca). On these materials were recorded everything from high literature to the myriad of Nine of ten published texts are private letters or documents of every conceivable documents and other communications of daily life. they reflect the quotidian affairs of government, commerce, and personal life in much the same way that modern records do. From the papyri, moreover, have come abundant new works of religious literature not only for Judaism and Christianity but also for traditional Greek and Roman cults, for Manicheism, and for the early history of I ....